īefore the album announcement, in early July, Stray Kids released SKZ Camp Song: Howl in Harmony, a camp-type online program in five episodes documenting the band's process in creating their songs and making music videos for them. A month later, the group announced that their second studio album, Noeasy, via the album trailer 'Thunderous', was scheduled for release on August 23, 2021, marking their first Korean physical release in 11 months since In Life was reissued in September 2020. Hyunjin also would participate to promote the new album. Later, JYP Entertainment confirmed that the group was preparing a new album but had not decided on its format. On June 29, the South Korean news outlet SpoTV News reported that the group would release an album in late August and hold Kingdom Week, a television program benefit for the winner. This was followed by the Mixtape Project single ' Mixtape: Oh', surprise-released on June 26 with the announcement that Hyunjin would resume his activity schedule in July, following a hiatus from group activities since late February due to bullying accusations. During the program, they released the song ' Wolfgang' on May 28, from the EP Kingdom, as part of the final performance competition. From April to June, the group participated in the Mnet's competitive reality television show Kingdom: Legendary War, joining Ateez, The Boyz, BtoB, iKon, and SF9, emerging as the winner. Stray Kids uploaded the video Step Out 2021 through their social media on January 1, 2021, including the group's accomplishments in 2020 and plans for 2021, including a second studio album. Noeasy won Best Album (Bonsang) at the 36th Golden Disc Awards.ģRacha, consisting of Bang Chan ( left), Changbin ( center), and Han ( right), a production team of Stray Kids, who wrote and produced the group's all release, including Noeasy. The album sold over 1.3 million copies in 2021 and was certified a million-seller by the Korea Music Content Association (KMCA), acknowledging it as the first million-selling album for the group and their label. The album peaked atop the Gaon Album Chart and among the top-20 in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, and Switzerland. Upon its release, Noeasy received favorable reviews for its creativity, storytelling, theme substance, and energy.

The album has fourteen tracks and engages various music genres of hip hop, EDM, pop, R&B, and rock, including the lead single ' Thunderous', and previous releases: ' Wolfgang' from the competition show Kingdom: Legendary War, and ' Mixtape: Oh' from their Mixtape Project. A word-play of ' noisy' and 'no easy', the album conveys the idea of making a loud impact on the world with their music, showing that the group strives to be the noisiest despite the hardships that come with this.įor the album, 3Racha (Bang Chan, Changbin, and Han), an in-house production team from members of Stray Kids, worked with Korean and foreign songwriters and producers, including Versachoi, HotSauce, Hong Ji-sang, Krysta Youngs, and the group's other members.

It was released on August 23, 2021, through JYP Entertainment, nine months after its predecessor, Japanese extended play All In (2020) and eleven months after the Korean reissue In Life (2020). Noeasy (stylized in all caps) is the second studio album by South Korean boy band Stray Kids.

Stray kids thunderous